Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 June 2019

It is so exciting to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection of designs, or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing.

If you browse around on Etsy or if you check Instagram for some kids fashion you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives that use our fabrics have small home-based businesses and sell their projects online and tag us via Instagram. But there are also some bigger fish out they're using our Spoonflower designs for their business. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from Spain, the United States, UK, and Canada. This month we selected a whole bunch of favorite fabrics turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and home and interior decoration, so much to choose from! We have selected some cool nursery textiles, kids swimwear and socks, we selected some new bags and purses you’re going to love! Take a look and see if there is something for you too. Have a look and enjoy our June selection.





1 // Wally + Ollie Clothing
We were tagged in some amazing cute swim pieces by Walton who runs a small business from her home in Jacksonville Florida. We love what she created with our copper rainbow design. This print is perfect for neutral creations and she turned them into girly bikinis and swim shorts for boys too. The bananas have been our surface pattern summer hot seller over at Spoonflower this year. They make a cute contrast with the darker western inspired designs she has in her shop. We love the images for these new pieces and couldn’t resist sharing them for this blog post. Take a look in their shop if you’d like to see more of what she creates.


2 // Bertie Rose
This little shop was founded by Helen who’s based in Manchester who makes eco-friendly and on-trend lifestyle products. She mixes retro, Nordic and abstract designs and we love her fun pouches, planters, and make-up bags so we wanted to spotlight her small business in our monthly Made-with post. Our zigzag print was used for these gorgeous items, but there are many more fun prints to choose from. So take a look in her shop to browse all home decor and fashion accessories.


3 // Raw Sox
We always wanted to make socks and we’re still looking for a sock partner in crime to collab with. But we can finally add some socks to our portfolio, even though it’s not a licensed design, this is the next best thing right? We love what Raw Sox created with our ziggy zag monochrome print design. This Spanish brand, based in Madrid creates socks that are a mix of illustrations, patterns, and photography and they’re truly unique. We just wanted to share these summer pieces to you guys. Our design mixed with some tropical vibes. Curious to see more? Check their webshop for more one-of-a-kind socks.


4 // Peaks and Valleys Baby
Shaele is a mom of four and was looking for unique blankets and sheets for her baby which she had a hard time with finding. So she made them herself. She decided to offer her skills to friends, looking for a cute nursery gift and so her shop was born. Now here shop has matured into a beautiful place to shop newborn textiles, all eco-friendly and certified. Her style is fresh, clean, with a touch of boho. For this months post, we selected her monochrome fitted sheets and blankets. Perfect for the neutral nursery. Curious to see more? Check her shop for all nursery textiles.


5 // Burst Into Bloom
Leah, who’s based in Michigan, is the founder of this hand waxes canvas bags and accessories shop. For this month we selected our galaxy design she created some wonderful items with. Most of her designs are flower & botanical-themed designs so we are very happy to see she found one of our designs, which is very different from the rest of her collection, to be suitable for her fun creations. We love her florals and lush botanical collection and are honored to see our designs in her newest collection too. Take a look in their shop for all boho prints and accessories.

Hello Miami Beach // The Abstracts // A design process

We are very proud of our newly launched Miami collection over at Spoonflower. This summer we created a whole bunch of new abstracts inspired by Miami’s beaches and streets. In this post you can read a little something about the process of creating this range of abstracts.

For this collection I started with some expressive shapes. When I create abstract designs the process of creating the shapes is linked to how I feel. I usually make abstract art when there is lot’s of drama to deal with, it is a way to transform my emotions into creation without having to think to much about the final result, color palette or proportions of an illustration.

A hell of a ride
Throughout the year there have been several things I needed to deal with. A partnership that resulted in a dramatic ending. It turned out I was the only one invested in this colab, a romantic relationship that ended very sudden, uhm yeah, I sort of invested in that too. Some family ties that needed my attention. Lot’s of things have happened this year, shaking me to the core and rethinking my entire self. When I go though real lows I create. There is no other way I know to deal with these things. I have been making things ever since I was a little girl, and most of my designs are targeting kids, that is not a coincidence. Getting in touch with my fundaments, my pure self is all I can rely on. And that basic emotion gets translated into my artwork.

Soft edges
When I am angry I create raw, high contrast designs. I use a dry brush, black ink. It is very obvious you can tell something needs to get out. But this summer I was not angry, I was mostly hurt. And when I feel hurt I do not need to get into the ‘raw’ as much. For the new Miami series all designs and elements were made with markers and ink resulting in rounded geometric shapes. Using a large marker and large brush make the details and shapes a little softer, there is no raw edge like other abstract designs have had. This soft touch represents the vulnerability I did not want to avoid or ignore. But I felt vulnerable after all the events that happened this year. And I was not going to run from it. I decided to face it, and am still facing it. Creation transforms but does not take away the pain. it is a process.

There is nothing more soothing for me than to turn my illustrations, and for this series, my abstract shapes, into patterns. I think you have to be a little crazy making 2000 patterns a year. But turning these shapes into repeats is so fulfilling! It is like sleeping under fresh crisp sheets, or the scent of raindrops on the hot summer pavements. Well, I don’t expect you to understand but making patterns puts my mind at easy. There is no better way of meditating for me than staring at my own seamless repeats.

This too shall pass
The entire Miami series is about being vulnerable. Therefore the colors are soft with a warm blush pink and a light ice blue, and a contrasting whiskey brown for a little character. I am not much of a drama queen usually so when I finished my 15+ designs I felt like a huge weight fell off my shoulders. I can truly say making art is like cleaning my soul, at least get rid of a big pile of dirt. Creation, how I love you!

Every single design needs a name. When I started creating these basic shapes I did not work around a theme. I just noticed some shapes reminded me of the city and some reminded me of the beach. And I knew this series had to be named after Miami with it’s sunny sea side and busy streets, the art deco architecture. Naming these prints took away the serious and turned this collection into a fun range filled with humor. I had so much fun coming up with the names; cocktails, salt, derby. The bling, obviously. The food prints: fries, taco’s and hotdogs. The names of the designs tied them all together as a collection.

Now the entire collection is available on fabric and wallpaper via Spoonflower. Most of the designs are still available for licensing too. So take a look and enjoy the new abstracts.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Memphis Style // July 2017

It is so exciting to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection of design or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing.

If you browse around on Etsy or Instagram for some kids fashion or home decoration you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via internet and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from Russia, The Netherlands and the United States. This month we selected a our top 3 Memphis products, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and have you seen those baby booties? There was so much to choose from! We have selected some cute baby shoes, shirts, leotards. And we have a link to our Society6 shop, if you would like to add some Memphis to your home. This is our top 3 July selection.

1 // Tiny Little Cactus - Adorable Baby Booties
Krista visit our shop in The Hague to get her hands on some of our Memphis fabric. She became a fan of our designs and a week later she ordered a whole lot more of our fabric via Spoonflower. When we asked her to tag us in her social media posts, because we are curious what peeps make from our fabric, the most wonderful items popped up. We love anything cute and love this local webshop filled with crafty stuff and everything Kawaii. For this months “Made with” we selected her adorable little baby booties in our trending white Memphis print. Soft sole shoes, perfect for your little ones tiny feet. Seriously, things don’t get much cuter than this! We love these fresh colorful booties, but if you prefer our darker Memphis designs: She also has the black Memphis designs available in her shop. If you are looking for some baby shoes or if you are a big Kawaii fan like we are check our her website. Such a perfect new born or baby shower gift!



2 // Mami’s Little Muse - Baby & Toddler fashion
We haven been following this shop for a couple of years already. Isis is one of our regular customers and has made some cute fashion items for little ones over the years. For this month’s post we selected some of her newest rompers and leotards made with our Memphis fabric. We love how she mixes and matches colors and prints. Isis started her little shop after giving birth to her preemie daughter. She could not find any clothes to fit her tiny new born baby girl. Her little muse Kaili inspired her to start dreaming about sewing a whole wardrobe full of clothing for her. And her husband, sensing her determination, came home one day carrying a brand new sewing machine. With all it bells and whistles, it wasn’t long before Isis preemie was the most stylish kid in town with a dressed overflowing with handmade outfits in all the colors of the rainbow. Now she has expanded her collection by adding cool boy designs too. her shop is fresh, fun and colorful. And her items all have a little something special. if you are curious just take a look into her Etsy shop.

3 // LU Kids - Cool boys and girls
Our Memphis designs haven been travelling all over the globe and even in Russia you can find a cool range of kids wear. LU Kids offers trendy fashion items and accessories. This Moscow based shop offers shirts, pants, shoes, everything for your little ones wardrobe. But they have also reated some cool accessories. Shoes, hats, backpacks. An entire series of back to school Memphis prints is released this fall. For this new collection LU Kids has used organic cotton and eco-friendly printing, water-based inks on natural and synthetic fiber textiles. No additional chemicals are used in the printing or preparation process. That is something we just love to hear! Many of our customers are choosing a more conscious approach so we really wanted to list them in our top 3 this month.
Curious about their new stuff? Visit their webshop.

Home decoration & Accessories
We usually only feature handmade items and licensed products in our monthly Made With post. Because this month is a little different that our usual posts we also wanted to add a link to our Society6 shop. Where you can find fashion accessories, bedding, and als sorts of fun items to decorate your home with. If you want to add a little Memphis to your home. Go take a look. We have a whole bunch of other designs to choose from too.

Trend alert: Typography monochromes

Some of you might know that typography can make me happy, I have studied graphic designs and typography before I became a printmaker. So seeing typography pop up as a trend makes me go yay! So happy to see this being picked up.

We wanted to feature some of our monochromes for this month’s trend alert. Raw sketches ABC & numbers designs. We have made a series of back to school prints for fabric and also added some typography designs for postcards and iPhone cases in bright popping colors and of course black and whites. Those simple and elegant black and white fabric designs are perfect for gender neutral clothes and home and nursery accessories. And we see an increase in popularity in on our monochrome designs. So come take a look at our collection.

Fabric featured in this post:
Sketch & Type
Spotted dalmatian
ABC Love
Raw Math
Strong Alphabet
Number Love

Limited Edition Memphis Style Little Smilemakers fabric // available via Ansje Handmade

We have something really cool to share with you guys! The past months we have been testing the market for fabric production ourselves. We worked with suppliers in the past but never produced our own series up until this summer when we decided to test these grounds.And we have something cool to show!

We have been approached by numerous companies in the past who wanted to order fabric outside of Spoonflower. Up until now we never provided this service but we would love to see if this would be a possibility in the future. Hopefully we can start doing so in the near future but as you can imagine, we want to make sure to cover all glitches and we want a top notch quality, with a low impact on our environment. Aiming for a high end product. Safe for babies and toddlers and with a long lasting print. of course all GOTS certified meeting the highest standards in the industry.

Ansje Handmade collaboration
When the designer herself starts her own production you can make sure things better get close to perfect so for our own production we are definitely not ready yet but we have started a test production and we now have released a limited edition range of Little Smilemakers fabric working together with Anouck who runs her small fabric business Ansje Handmade. Without her things wouldn’t have come this far, she has been a vital partner in starting this process and with a whole bunch of positive energy she has supported me and together we hope to get things up and running within the next year.

Fresh Limited Edition fabric
For the first small batch we have selected 9 different colorful prints to choose from. Some fresh Memphis Style inspired abstract rain drops an brush strokes. Our all time fave geometric plus sign design and some fun kids themes of course. All designs are printed on 220grams GOTS certified jersey fabric. And there is only 15 meters of each of these designs. So for all Little Smilemakers fans in the Netherlands, rush to Anouck’s online shop to get your hands on a piece of this fresh fabric. And stay tuned for more fabric production news!